One thought on “Pro-Palestine activism still broken”

On the march for Gaza on Saturday 26 July I witnessed a small and isolated group of 5 men hurling anti-Semitic statements outside Downing Street. They were immediately challenged by people in the crowd of marchers but they just abused those people with the same statements and walked off. They had the whiff of something nasty about them, more agents provocateurs than serious organised protesters. Their language was peppered with swear words and they looked like thugs.

In general I am not inclined to see anti-Semitism everywhere. There are many people who dispute Israel’s right to exist, and even though I disagree with them I see that they do not intend to offend: they do not distinguish between different strands of Zionism. They are prepared to debate forcibly but in a rational way. These people were just strange: they seemed to be having fun trying to stir something up and create some disorder in a peaceful march which had a large Jewish presence. They were odd, I think I am trying to say. Fortunately there were just five in a march of 50,000.